The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for sorting discs of different identities.
Devices for sorting discs of different identities exist in many different forms and may be used for sorting discs of widely differing kinds. A common field of application is coin sorting. In this field of application the discs are constituted by coins and their identities are represented by the denominations of the coins and may be ascertained by detecting the dimensions, shape, weight, electrical properties or some other characteristic of the coins by which the denominations differ from one another. There are also fields of application other than coin sorting, such as sorting of tokens, labelling discs, electrical and optical filter discs, coin calls, and so on. Another field of application is sorting of gaming counters and the like.
One method of identifying and sorting discs is disclosed in GB-A-2254419. In this arrangement discs are received in a hopper and transferred from the hopper to a sorting arrangement by a rotating disc.
Another chip sorting apparatus is disclosed in GB-A-1571219 and GB-A-1571220. In such an arrangement discs are received in a hopper and conveyed from the hopper to a chip sorting arrangement using an endless conveyor.
In these prior art methods, no account is taken of the possible variable nature in the sorting requirement for the apparatus. For instance, discs to be sorted can be received in batches with large intervals therebetween. This is particularly so when the apparatus is used for sorting gaming chips in conjunction with the game of roulette where there is a several minute interval between each game and at the end of each game a large number of chips need to be sorted.
WO 96/20460 discloses a medal counting apparatus in which medals are received in a hopper and transferred by a conveying means to a counting station. The speed of the conveying means is controlled in dependence upon whether medals are detected entering the hopper. In this arrangement a sensor is placed in the hopper and the conveying means is stopped and started in dependence upon detected medals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simpler and more reliable disc sorting apparatus.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a disc sorting apparatus for sorting discs of different identities, the apparatus comprising:
receiving means for receiving discs to be sorted;
holding means for holding a plurality of groups of discs;
conveying means for conveying the received discs from said receiving means to said holding means;
sorting means including disc identifying means for detecting and identifying discs conveyed by said conveying means, and transfer means for transferring the conveyed and identified discs to said holding means and for putting discs of the same identity in the same group; and
control means responsive to said disc identifying means to cause said conveying means to run at a low speed when said disc identifying means detects no discs in a period of time, or at a higher speed if discs are detected.
Also in accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a disc sorting method for sorting discs of different identities, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving discs to be sorted at receiving means;
conveying the received discs from the receiving means to holding means for holding groups of discs using conveying means;
detecting and identifying discs conveyed by said conveying means; and
transferring the conveyed discs from said conveying means to said holding means so as to put discs of the same identity in the same group;
wherein when no discs are detected by the detecting and identifying step in a period of time, said conveying means is controlled to convey at a low speed, otherwise said conveying means is controlled to convey discs at a higher speed.
Thus in accordance with the present invention no additional detection means is required for detecting the reception of discs. Instead the disc identifying means performs not only the identifying function of determining the identification of the discs, but also the detection and counting of the discs. The conveying means is controlled to run at a low speed when the disc identifying means detects no discs in a period of time and at a higher speed if discs are detected by the disc identifying means. In this way the additional costs and complexity of an additional detection system is avoided and the conveying means can be continuously operated at a low speed in order to bring any received discs to the disc identifying means for identification and counting. Further, the constant stopping and starting which causes increased wear and tear in the arrangement of WO 96/20460 is avoided.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art in that it is able to reduce machine wear by matching the conveying speed to the sorting demand of the apparatus. For example, the low conveying speed is used as an idling speed when there are no discs to be sorted, a medium speed can be used for sorting discs at a xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d level and a high conveying speed can be used when there is a high sorting demand i.e. a large number of discs have been received in the receiving means and are awaiting sorting.
In an embodiment of the present invention the disc identifying means is arranged to detect and identify the discs as they are being conveyed by the conveying means just prior to being transferred to the appropriate stacks in the holding means i.e. sorted.
The conveying means preferably conveys the discs serially thus allowing the discs to be identified serially.
In an embodiment the conveying means comprises an endless conveyor. The present invention is not however limited to such a conveying means and any form of conveying means can be used such as a rotating arm or disc.
In an embodiment the receiving means comprises a hopper arranged adjacent to the conveying means to allow for a large number of discs to be received in the hopper, collected and conveyed by the conveyor means to the holding means.
In an embodiment the holding means is arranged to hold the discs as a plurality of stacks and the transfer means is adapted to stack the discs of the same identity in the same stack. In this way the sorted discs are presented as a plurality of stacks.
In an embodiment the holding means is arranged adjacent to the conveying means in the form of an endless conveyor and the transfer means provides for the transfer of the discs to the bottom of the stacks. This allows the user to remove sorted discs from the top of the stacks.
The disc identifying means can comprise any means of identifying the discs and the technique applied will depend upon the form of the discs and the differences between the discs defining their identities. For example, for coins, the detection system can comprise an electromagnetic system for detecting the electromagnetic properties of the coins. For gaming chips, the detection system can comprise an optical detection system for detecting the colour of at least a part of the disc since discs of different identities have different colours.
The control means of the present invention can comprise a suitably programmed computer. Thus the present invention can be embodied as any suitable storage medium for storing computer readable code for controlling a computer to carry out the control. The storage means can comprise any conventional storage medium such as a magnetic disc, optical disc, or electronic circuit e.g. read only memory (ROM). The present invention can also comprise a signal carrying the computer program e.g. when the program is downloaded over a network.